Booze News

Stefan Lutak, Owner of Holiday Cocktail, Passes Away

By Hailey Eber Fri., Feb. 6 2009 at 1:32 PM
Categories: Booze News, Featured
Stefan1.jpg
photo: Mike Marvin

Sad news out of the East Village today. Stefan Lutak, the longtime proprietor of the Holiday Cocktail Lounge, has passed away. Born in Ukraine in 1920, Lutak fought with the Soviet Army in World War II and came to New York by boat in 1949. In 1965, he and his wife opened the Holiday on St. Mark's Place.

There, Lutak served drinks to Allen Ginsburg and W.H. Auden. The legendary dive bar closed briefly last month due to Lutak's health issues, but it had recently reopened. Now it remains to be seen what will happen to Lutak's beloved bar in the wake of his passing.

[Vanishing New York via Grub Street]

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Uncle Ash
Uncle Ash

... one of my favorites when in NYC, real nice folk too.

adam
adam

Does anyone remember any of the songs he used to sing, mostly nonsense. I particularly remember one called, "she'll wait for you."

Polecat
Polecat

I love this bar, and will miss this man behind the bar. Very quiet, gentle, unassuming. I certainly hope the Holiday perseveres in his memory - it's a great old bar. The year-round xmas lights strung along the circumference have always reminded me of a Mississippi juke joint for some reason.p.

Jason
Jason

That sucks. RIP. He was a good man who ran a great bar.

Andrew
Andrew

To be honest there isn�t much to say about my workouts this week. Much like last week, they were virtually non-existent due to my triceps injury. I tested it yesterday and am 98% healthy, so I will be back on track and lifting again. The only real workout I had was helping my brother move to a new place last Saturday.

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